FAAN opening Friday

Pocket Utopia presents The Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN): January 4- 27, Opening Jan. 4th 6:00 - 10:00 pm

Artists selected from the online network where all of the artworks on view are available for adoption:

Matt Davis

Laura Devendorf

Danielle Dimston

Marcy B. Freedman

Ben Godward

Jill Henderson

Matt King

Dave Krueger

Jacob Rhodes

Analia Segal

Jason Simon

Tattfoo Tan

January 4 – January 27, 2008

OPENING, Friday January 4 6:00 – 10:00 pm

POCKET UTOPIA

1037 Flushing Avenue

[Just off the Morgan L, Bushwick]

Open Saturdays and Sundays 12-6 and by appointment

Call: 917-400-3869

Pocket Utopia is pleased to present an exhibition of the Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN). FAAN is an online network that uses a gift economy to connect artists and potential collectors. Pocket Utopia will function as a clearinghouse and will facilitate the adoption process. Post-studio artist and Pocket Utopia intern Audra Wolowiec selected the works on view. The adoption of artworks between the artist and collector will be finalized through the website (http://www.fineartadoption.net/); no purchases will be made.

"Ideally, the work is going to people who would not otherwise own the artwork," says Adam Simon, the Brooklyn, N.Y. artist who set up Fine Art Adoption Network (FAAN) with the support of Art in General. Adopters might be institutions with no art budget, individuals with little disposable income, or families who haven't considered making art a priority.

One of the goals of FAAN is to help increase and diversify the population of art owners and to offer artists new means for engaging with their audience. The artist determines who can adopt the artwork.

Adam Simon got the idea for FAAN when his mom moved from a house to an apartment, and he found himself regaining possession of two large paintings he had made years before. That’s when the light bulb went on: Artists have more art than they can store, while plenty of people who love art have no way of owning it. So why not use the Internet to facilitate art adoptions?

This exhibition of FAAN is the third in a series examining creative pocket utopias that began by opening a file at Pierogi (The Pierogi Show at Pocket Utopia in September 2007). Then in December 2007 with a show titled “Etsy,” Pocket Utopia ventured into the crafty commerce of the online place to buy and sell all things handmade with the same name (http://www.etsy.com)

There will be a salon discussion held on Wednesday, January 23rd at 6:00pm where Adam Simon and FAAN artists will talk about money and its role in the art world. Refreshments will be served. This discussion is a part of Austin Thomas’s salon series titled, “Excuse me, you have art in your teeth.”

Pocket Utopia is an away-from center, off-center, exhibition, salon and social space run by artist Austin Thomas.

The next exhibition will feature work by Rico Gatson (opening 2/01/08). For this occasion, a limited edition Gocco print will be produced.

Pictured above: David Krueger

(This piece is from the Journeys, States & Locations show waaaay back at Joel Beck & Jessica Murray's Salon 75 on Roebling. This was the first showing of my work which blended murky pop colored liquids and surreal light sources, with landscapes, portraits and psychologically loaded objects. #1 of 5, cibachrome mounted to plexi. It's a til-a-whirl. Or is it? Roll up for the chemical carnival tour.)

Additional Information
Photograph
Completed in: 1996
28 x 20 inches
Near or in New York, NY / United States